wallace-l: Coverage of DFW

[Marco Bertoli]

>Damn, I miss this guy. I used to have a lot of imaginary 
>conversations with him in my head. I suppose that doesn't have to 
>stop, but...

Absolutely it doesn't, Marie.

I can't tell you how many times, when facing some matter which left 
me dubious or puzzled or even fascinated in a way I could not 
completely fathom or  made me uncomfortable, I resorted to the 
thought: what would DFW make of this? if you think  that at times it 
could  be such unwieldy issues as Italian politics or economy (I live 
in Italy), you'll see how far out  things could get...

But it helped, every blessed time it helped, a way or another. He has 
been such a prop and an inspiration to me for over ten years now, a 
solace at times; me, a guy so afar from him in space and culture and 
experiences, who never met him in person. I have seen many people 
over here, people of the leftist persuasion and staunchily 
anti-everything american, learning to understand and finally 
appreciate the US for what best they have to offer mainly through 
David's writing (his opera omnia is translated in Italian). I have 
seen copies of his Kenyon commencement address circulate and being 
prizeld in the most unlikey circles in makeshift translations. I have 
even seen avowed enemies of the novel as a genre poring over IJ for 
months, to declare in the end how the experience had made them more 
intelligent than they used to be.

I don't think there are words yet to describe what charismatic, 
unusual, probably unwilling ambassador of the best of US culture DFW 
has been.

I feel really carried away. I'm sorry for the broken English, these 
days even more wretched than usual.

Marco